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The Christmas Letter
The Christmas Letter is a Christmas special made in 1998 and the final Mr. Men and Little Miss / Monsieur Bonhomme animation. It follows up The Christmas Rescue, which was the first Christmas special and the first episode to the series, meaning it both started as ended with a Christmas special. The story follows Jack, a boy who tries to get his Christmas Wishlist to Father Christmas with the help of the Mr. Men & Little Misses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUxdK0h0bHI Credits MR. MEN & LITTLE MISS created by Roger Hargreaves Co-produced with The Hargreaves Organisation A Flicks Films LTD. production Summary As Christmas time is approaching, everyone is busy with their letters to Father Christmas as today is the final day. Jack had just finished his letter and entrusts it on Mr. Forgetful, who was just heading to the mailbox, to deliver it for him. Forgetful tries his very best to remember "Deliver the letter, do not drop it in the snow" but is distracted when having mild interaction with Little Miss Bossy and Little Miss Splendid. He mindlessly passes Postman Stamp, who is just emptying the mailbox, after the two greet each other. Forgetful, now entirely having lost track, comes along Mr. Snow. He recalls the message "drop the letter into Mr. Snow" and hands it to Mr. Snow and hurries off. Mr. Snow sees that the letter is meant for Father Christmas. When Jack gets home, Postman Stamp points out to Jack he had not received a letter from him. Jack proceeds to sulk which is overheard by a passing Mr. Happy, who informs him Christmas is not only about receiving presents. Regardless, he is ready to help out to deliver the letter in person and calls for Mr. Daydream to his magic travel bird. The make a stop at Nonsenseland over at Mr. Silly's house to ask for directions, or as Silly words it to Mr. Nonsense "to know where they are". "Well, they are here, aren't they?", replies Mr. Nonsense. Silly agrees and assumes it is settled and goes off to play in the snow. Happy figures they might be less lost is they leave Nonsenseland again. Mr. Mischief is busy catapulting snowballs at passing by Mr. Men, namely Mr. Greedy and Mr. Nosey, who tell him to cut it out. Obviously not doing that, Mischief fails to hit the ever so tall Mr. Tall and the snowball manages to hit Jack, who tumbles off the bird. Happy notices Jack's absence too late as Jack descents in a deep dark forest. He comes across a worn down cottage which happens to be the home of Mr. Mean. Jack is taken aback by the living conditions and attitude of Mr. Mean, who does not give anything for free (except shelter apparently). Mean finds Christmas a waste of time and giving gifts is pointless as people just keep them. Regardless, Mean still did put up a Christmas tree. Jack asks for directions to Santa Claus, which Mean calculates to cost Jack a total of £1859,20, but, as it is Christmas, he gives Jack a discount of 20 pence. The scene takes a darker turn as he demands "more coal" and Little Miss Tiny comes out. She explains to Jack that she is put in labor for a year (basically slavery as she has no means to escape) because she asked Mean for a glass of water last Summer. Mean barks some orders to her and goes to bed. Tiny assumes to be stuck in this state forever and proceeds to sing a sorrowful song about broken dreams and never finding happiness. Jack jumps up and grabs Tiny by the hand, announcing they are going to escape. Once facing his first obstacle, the door, he gives up. As he mentions Santaclaus to Tiny, Tiny realizes they can escape through the chimney and do so. Mr. Mean, having woken up from the commotion, is displeased to see they have escaped and blames it on Christmas. Once escaped the forest, Jack and Tiny come across Mr. Funny who offers them a ride. Now on the open road, Mr. Happy on top of Daydream's bird spots Jack. In the mean time, Funny gleefully loses control of his steering wheel and drives of a cliff into the ocean, which nobody is too alarmed by. Happy manages to catch Jack and Tiny, while Funny helps himself with an umbrella he magically made appear. Daydream's bird drops them off near a town where Santaclaus lives and flies off. The find a trail of one of Santa's helpers and follow it into a door in a tree. It leads to Santa's workshop where nobody seems to mind their presence because they are all too busy. Jack goes up the stairs to a door guarded by two elves who proceed to argue with each other. Jack, Happy and Tiny sneak pass them to open the door on Santa only wearing a towel after taking a bath. When Santa is finished, Jack proceeds to read his enormous wishlist to Santa. Mr. Snow comes in to help him name things of the list, as it turns out Mr. Snow delivered the letter to Santa himself after Forgetful gave it to him. Jack makes a bit of a turn that he feels being here is more of a gift than whatever materialistic needs he requires. Christmas is approaching as Santa looks on his watch, which Jack points out to be a very cool watch. After Santa adjusted his belt tightness to correct chimney size he offers Jack, Happy and Tiny a ride back home. Jack, again with no rhyme or reason, points out to Happy he understands there are other things more important than receiving gifts and Happy points out making new friends, for example, is one.Jack met nobody new nor made any friends during the journey. Jack does point out getting presents is nice as well and Happy agrees that it's almost as nice as giving them. As they take off to ride the sled, Jack finds himself waking up in his own bed the next morning and assumes it was all a dream. At the end of his bed, an awoken Little Miss Tiny pops up. She hands him a present that Santa more personally meant for Jack, which is that watch Jack thought was cool. Jack opens up the curtains upon hearing singing and all the Mr. Men and Little Misses have gathered in Jack's front lawn to sing "we wish you a Merry Christmas", including Mr. Mean, even if he is reluctant to do so. Trivia *Due to how dark it is in Mean's scene and Mean himself proceeding to go to bed, one is to assume a night has passed which would make it Christmas morning. However this is not the case and Happy acts as if no time has passed since losing Jack at all. *Mr. Mean's scene is accompanied with horror movie sound effects when Mean reaches out, and even the iconic "Hitchcock's Psycho""Psycho" (1960 film) on Wikipedia sound effect"Psycho Strings" on TVTropes when he carries a knife. It is meant to imply that Mean is a serious threat to Jack's well-being for -supposedly- humor's sake, but becomes strange in what follows. *Previous depiction of Mr. Mean in the TV series 1996-1997 had him be mean but silly at best and morally just. The depiction in this special where he would hold someone as a slave is tone-deaf to both the franchise as it is to a Christmas special. Specifically because we are not meant to see Mean as a villain but just a silly sour person in the ending. There is no further point made of his actions either so there is no redemption or a change of heart. *While carelessness is not new to the writing in the franchise, Tiny's prospect of being a slave trapped forever is rather off-beat within the caring society she lives in. *In a very muddled exchange, when Santa offers Jack a lift back home, Jack replies with: "Uh, no thanks. Just kidding! Way to go, Santa!". Santa does not understand "hip speech" and Happy translates it as "yes". "Way to go" actually means approval and support, something entirely not fitting for the offer and seems to refer to the scene of Santa being able to go through the chimney. Cast Main Cameos Little Miss Naughty Mr. Lazy Mr. Slow Mr. Clumsy Mr. Bump Little Miss Giggles Mr. Small Mr. Tickle Little Miss Chatterbox Little Miss Chatterbox Little Miss Greedy Little Miss Careful Mr. Skinny Little Miss Late Little Miss Dotty Mr. Dizzy Little Miss Scatterbrain Mr. Nonsense Mr. Strong Mr. Sneeze Mr. Topsy-Turvy Little Miss Busy Little Miss Lucky Mr. Grumble Little Miss Tidy Gallery The Christmas Letter DVD cover.jpg|DVD cover The Christmas Letter DVD cover back.jpg The Christmas Letter.png Notes and citations :References :Notes Category:Animation